CHAPTER XXVII 
THE ORDER OF FLAMINGOES— A CONNECTING LINK 
ODONTOGLOSSAE 
The long-legged, long-necked Flamingo is 
a very perfect connecting link between the 
wading-birds and the swimmers, and a most 
curiously formed bird. It has enormously long, 
stilt-like legs, like a heron ; but its feet are fully 
webbed, like the feet of a duck. Its standing 
height is from 48 to 54 inches. It has a long, 
slender, crane-like neck; but its thick, broken- 
backed bill is provided with lamillae along the 
edges, like the bill of a shoveller-duck. The 
anatomy of the bill and tongue of this bird is 
particularly interesting. 
This bird is by habit a true wader, and lives 
and breeds near shallow lagoons, where it can 
walk in the water, and feed on the bottom. 
In 1902, Mr. Frank M. Chapman, of the Amer- 
ican Museum of Natural History, visited a great 
breeding-place of the American Flamingo , 1 on 
Andros Island, Bahamas, where he saw about 
700 birds in one Hock, and about 2,000 mud- 
nests in one group, situated on a level mud-flat 
close beside a shallow lagoon. 
The nest of this queer bird proved to be a 
low, flat pillar of mud from 6 to 12 inches 
in height, 13 inches in diameter at the bot- 
tom, and 10 inches across the top — which 
is flat, and slightly depressed. 2 The eggs 
are two in number. 
Up to 1890, the Flamingo flocks still 
visited southern Florida, near Cape Sable, 
and it is possible that at rare intervals 
they still do so. Besides those in the 
Bahamas, flamingoes are found in Cuba. 
Every year from twenty to fifty live 
birds are brought to New York by the 
dealers in live animals, and sold at prices 
ranging from $12 to $20 each. When 
they arrive they are all over bright red, 
but in captivity all gradually fade out until 
they are pale pink. 
In all the world there are eight species 
of flamingoes. While our species is bright 
scarlet, all over, those of Europe and Africa 
are almost white, with pink wing coverts. 
The food of this bird in captivity is dried 
shrimps, boiled rice, and cubes of stale 
bread, fed in water. In a room which 
is warmed to 60 c F., it can live all 
winter, wading half the time in water 
that is almost icy cold, without catching 
cold. The voice of this bird is fearfully and 
wonderfully made. It is a resonant, deep bass, 
utterly unmusical "honk,” like a rasping blast 
on a large tin horn, blown by an amateur. 
1 Phoe-ni-cop' ter-us ru'ber. Length, 45 inches; 
spread of wings, 62 inches; tarsus, 12.50 inches. 
2 Bird Lore Magazine. IV., p. 180. 
New York Zoological Park. 
THE FLAMINGO. 
266 
